


Brotherhood

by helens78



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: 1960s, Alternate Universe - Race Changes, Canon Jewish Character, Chromatic Character, First Meetings, Japanese-American Character, M/M, Racebending Revenge Challenge, Racism, Recruitment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-08
Updated: 2012-02-08
Packaged: 2017-10-30 19:46:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/335402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helens78/pseuds/helens78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A chromatic recasting story.  Erik comes to a carnival to see Mastermind, a Japanese-American mutant with a talent for illusions.  They have too much in common to stand apart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brotherhood

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a Porn Battle story for an "Erik/OC, twist" prompt, and then it rapidly got serious... I think partly because I've been dying to tell this story for the last two or three years, since the racebending revenge challenge was announced. Mastermind is possibly my all-time favorite character to racebend, which is why you can pretty much assume that any Jason Wyngarde I'm writing is Asian-American.
> 
> [The Minidoka War Relocation Center](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minidoka_National_Historic_Site) is the internment camp my grandfather and his family were sent to during World War II.

Erik meets him at a carnival. He's performing as an illusionist, The Great Mastermind, and as soon as he walks into the tent the murmuring starts.

_Didn't pay good money to see a Chink magic show... What's he going to do, turn that top hat into a coolie hat... Maybe he'll pull a rabbit out of a hat and eat it..._

Humans. Erik folds his arms over his chest and glowers at them, ignoring their all-too-predictable racism, and he looks steadily at Mastermind as he gets started.

He doesn't speak, not at first. He brings both white-gloved hands up, then throws a shower of golden glitter into the audience. While no one looks particularly impressed by that, a quick twirling gesture from him sweeps the glitter up into a pattern, a shape in the air... a dragon, formed in such detail with those tiny glittering particles that it quiets the murmurs almost immediately.

Another gesture, and there's more glitter in the air, silver this time. Another dragon forms and follows the first, the two of them tangling together in battle.

Erik could almost believe he's looking at real silver, real gold, but he can't _feel_ the metal. This isn't tiny specks of foil, shaped with invisible wires somehow. It's no mirror trick.

This is something else entirely.

There are more illusions. Smoke that smells real but doesn't cause anyone to cough; lights, sounds, a dove that flies into the audience, fetches the feather off a woman's cap, and brings it back to Mastermind... and with a wave of the illusionist's hand, the cap's intact once again, the dove disappearing in a swirl of feathers and a spray of glitter. The show ends with a miniature display of fireworks, and even the most jaded of the humans cheers and applauds.

Erik offers up his own applause, too, but he slips out of the tent when Mastermind takes a bow and vanishes in a puff of smoke. He's asked around. He knows where to find him.

*

"Jason Wyngarde?" Erik asks. It's the name on the outside of Jason's wagon. "Or Jason Watanabe." It's the name he was born with. Erik did his research. He knows them both.

The illusionist glances into his mirror, blinks at the way Erik's invited himself into the small wagon that serves as his dressing room and his home.

"You were in the audience," Jason says. "I think you have some tricks of your own." His eyes flick down, in the mirror, to the series of locks on his door. "The chain especially. That's impressive. Those can be broken, but not without noise."

Erik reaches behind him, fingers the chain. All intact. "Tricks," he says, "no. Abilities. Yes."

He turns one hand, palm up, fingers extended, and a number of metal trinkets rise from Jason's vanity. Jason looks them over, one eyebrow raised.

"I think I've heard of you," he says. "You and a certain Brotherhood."

"Join me." Erik gestures around the wagon. "Aren't you tired of spending your gifts on humans who can hardly bear the sight of you? Join me, and we can change the world. Change _everything_."

"I should trust you more than I trust them?" Jason shakes his head, comes to his feet, closes the distance between them. "What are you seeing, when you look at me?"

"I see a man who doesn't hide his face, even when it would be easier." Erik reaches up, fingertips light on Jason's cheek. "I see someone who wants to change the world to suit him, instead of waiting for the world to change around him."

"Nobody should wait," Jason says, eyes narrowing, shoulders going tense. "You lose everything by waiting."

"That's a lesson we both learned too young," Erik murmurs. He lifts his arm, tugs the sleeve back, showing Jason his tattoo. Jason pauses for a moment, and then understanding lights his face, even as his expression darkens.

He puts a hand on Erik's arm, above the tattoo. "For me it was Minidoka," he murmurs. "Then Tule Lake."

"Join me," Erik says. He reaches out again, this time sliding his hand onto Jason's neck, his fingers curving around to the back of it. "They'll come for mutants next. I know it. You know it. We've seen it happen already. Join me and we can ensure that it never happens again."

Jason leans forward, into Erik, his hands sliding to Erik's waist, slipping around his back. "Join you and get _what else_ ," he asks, tipping his face up. "Is this your recruiting strategy for everyone?"

"Not everyone," Erik promises, and he bends down, claims Jason's mouth with his own.


End file.
